Legislation
Climate Change, Energy, and Forests:
Massachusetts' forests play important roles in sequestering carbon and providing ecological resistance to the effects of climate change. Climate change, however, presents significant threats to forests throughout the Northeast and elsewhere.
Our statewide climate change goals include mitigating sources of greenhouse gases by reducing emissions and sequestering carbon dioxide and helping natural communities be more resistant by adapting and preparing for climate change impacts.
Contact your legislator and ask them to support legislation, policy development, and new funding for:
- An economy-wide cap and trade policy to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from major sources such as large-scale electrical power generation.
- The expanded use of forest conservation as a strategy to sequester carbon dioxide.
- Climate change adaptation to promote the resistance of habitat and survival of plant and animal species.
- Environmental criteria for siting renewable energy facilities to give a roadmap for developers, guidance for municipalities and assurances for environmental organizations.
- Renewables, such as biofuels, with environmental safeguards to ensure that growing of feedstock and combustion of fuels is done in a manner that is sustainable and environmentally sound.
For more information on these initiatives and current progress, contact Stephen Long, The Nature Conservancy, slong@tnc.org.
Links for more information:
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
For infomation on all aspects of climate change mitigation and adaptation
Harvard Forest climate change research and NPR Interview
Forest Guild report: Climate Change, Carbon, and the Forests of the Northeast
Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative
Massachusetts Impacts (Union of Concerned Scientists)